Vacuum packaging machine and packaging method thereof

ABSTRACT

A vacuum packaging machine and a packaging method thereof are disclosed. The vacuum packaging machine includes a support structure. An automatic bag feeding structure, an evacuating structure, a heat-sealing structure, and a driving structure are provided on the support structure. The evacuating structure includes a first vacuum compartment movably connected to the support structure and a second vacuum compartment arranged beside the first vacuum compartment. The heat-sealing structure is arranged between the automatic bag feeding structure and the evacuating structure. As such, a user places an opening of a packaging bag on the automatic bag feeding structure that automatically drives the packaging bag into the machine. The driving structure then drives the heat-sealing structure and the evacuating structure to operate for evacuation and heat sealing applied to the packaging bag. Finally, the automatic bag feeding structure removes the packaging bag out of the machine.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a vacuum packaging machine and a packaging method thereof, and more particularly to a vacuum packaging machine and a packaging method thereof that realize an effect of automatization and achieve improved safety.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

A vacuum packaging machine may automatically extract air from the inside of a packaging bag to achieve a desired level of vacuum and then carries out an opening-sealing operation. The vacuum packaging machine is commonly used in the food industry and gains wider and wider applications, due to the popularization of small-sized packs and the development of super markets, and would gradually take the place of hard packages.

Vacuum packaging machines that are of small sizes and are commonly used in households are often operated in a manual or semi-automatic manner, of which a general operation requires opening a cover of a vacuum packaging machine, placing an opening of a packaging bag on an evacuation assembly, closing the cover, and then pressing down an operation button to carry out processes of evacuation and heat-sealing. This consumes a lot of time and labor and has a low operation efficiency. In case that the structure that is operable to carry out the heat-sealing process remains with quite a temperature, undesired events of accidental burning may be caused, leading to potential risk of operation safety.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary objective of the present invention is to improve operation safety by means of realization of automatization through an arrangement of an automatic bag feeding structure and preventing a user from readily contacting a heat-sealing structure.

To achieve the above objective, a vacuum packaging machine according to the present invention generally comprises a support structure, an automatic bag feeding structure that is mounted on the support structure, an evacuating structure that is mounted on the support structure and comprises a first vacuum compartment movably connected to the support structure and a second vacuum compartment located beside the first vacuum compartment, a heat-sealing structure that is movably connected to the support structure and arranged between the automatic bag feeding structure and the evacuating structure, and a driving structure that is mounted on the support structure and is operable to drive the heat-sealing structure and the evacuating structure to operate.

With the above structure, a user may place an opening of a packaging bag that is stuffed with a food product on the automatic bag feeding structure. The automatic bag feeding structure moves the opening of the packaging bag to the evacuating structure to be located between the first vacuum compartment and the second vacuum compartment. The driving structure drives the first vacuum compartment to close onto the second vacuum compartment and drives the heat-sealing structure to press tightly on the packaging bag. Then, the evacuating structure is activated to carry out an evacuating operation for sucking air out of the packaging bag. When the sucking has been performed to reach a predetermined time or a predetermined level of vacuum, the evacuating operation is terminated. And, then, the heat-sealing structure perform heat sealing on the packaging bag for a second predetermined time, and then, the driving structure drives the first vacuum compartment to open and the heat-sealing structure is caused to move away from the packaging bag. Finally, the automatic bag feeding structure moves the packaging bag out of the vacuum packaging machine. As such, an effect of automatization can be realized and efficiency of operation can be enhanced. Further, a user is prevented from contacting the heat-sealing structure so that incidences of burning would not happen, thereby greatly improving safety of operation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view, partly shown in a see-through manner FIG. 2 is a partly exploded view.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line A-A of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating steps.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing bag feeding.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing bag feeding.

FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing vacuum closure.

FIG. 8 is another schematic view showing vacuum closure.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing heat sealing.

FIG. 10 is another schematic view showing heat sealing.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view, partly shown in a see-through manner, illustrating another preferred embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a schematic view showing operation of said another preferred embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIGS. 1-10, the drawings clearly show a vacuum packaging machine 1 according to the present invention comprises:

a support structure 11;

an automatic bag feeding structure 2 that is mounted on the support structure 11, the automatic bag feedings structure 2 comprising a plurality of driving members 21 rotatably mounted on the support structure 11, a plurality of first gears 21 rotatably mounted on the support structure 11 and connected to one of the driving members 21, a plurality of second gears 23 rotatably mounted on the support structure 11 and connected to another one of the driving members 21, at least one second electric machine 24 mounted on the support structure 11 and connected to drive the first gears 22 or the second gears 23 to rotate (wherein as an example for illustration, the first gears 22 are driven thereby to rotate in this embodiment), the first gears 22 and the second gears 23 being in mating engagement with each other, an example of the second electric machine 24 being a servomotor;

an inspection module 25 mounted on the support structure 11, wherein, in this embodiment, the inspection module 25 is an optic sensor that detects a position of a packaging bag 6, but is not limited thereto;

a heat-sealing structure 3 that is movably mounted on the support structure 11 and is arranged between the automatic bag feeding structure 2 and an evacuating structure 4 that will be described hereinafter, the heat-sealing structure 3 comprising one of a heating filament assembly and a positive temperature coefficient (PTC) assembly, a heating filament assembly being taken as an example in this embodiment, the heating filament assembly comprising a heat-sealing presser bar 31 movably mounted on the support structure 11, a heating filament 32 (a metallic or ferrous heating filament being an example) arranged on the heat-sealing presser bar 31, the heat-sealing presser bar 31 including at least a first pivoting section 311 and at least a first abutting section 312, the support structure 11 being provided with a first through opening 111, by which the heat-sealing presser bar 31 is rotatably coupled to the support structure 10 with the first pivoting section 311, with the first abutting section 312 movably receivable in the first through opening 111;

an evacuating structure 4 that is mounted on the support structure 11, the evacuating structure 4 comprising a first vacuum compartment 41 that is movably connected to the support structure 11 and a second vacuum compartment 42 that is mounted on the support structure 11 and arranged beside the first vacuum compartment 41, the first vacuum compartment 41 being provided with at least a second pivoting section 411 and at least a second abutting section 412, the first vacuum compartment 41 being rotatably mounted to the support structure 11 by means of the second pivoting section 411, the second abutting section 412 being movably receivable in a second through opening 112 of the support structure 11, the first through opening 111 and the second through opening 112 in this embodiment being both an elongate through hole formed in the support structure 11;

an evacuation motor 43 that is mounted on the support structure 11 and in communication with the first vacuum compartment;

a first elastic element 113 that is mounted on the support structure 11, the first elastic element 113 having two ends respectively supported on the support structure 11 and the first abutting section 312;

a second elastic element 114 that is mounted on the support structure 11, the second elastic element 114 having two ends respectively supported on the support structure 11 and the second abutting section 412;

a driving structure 5 that is mounted on the support structure 11, the driving structure 5 comprising at least a first electric machine 51 that is mounted on the support structure 11, at least a driver mounting plate 52 mounted on the support structure 11, at least a driver device 53 movably mounted on the driver mounting plate 52, at least a driver gear 54 mounted on the support structure 11 and connected to the first electric machine 51, and a sensing element 55 that is mounted on the driver mounting plate 52; and

a detector section 531, the detector section 531 being arranged on the driver device 53 and being operable in collaborative combination with the sensing element 55.

The above description provides an understanding of the structural arrangement of this invention, and through collaborative operational combination of such a structural arrangement, automatization can be realized to provide an advantage of enhancing operation safety. Further details are provided below:

A packaging method that is carried out with the vacuum packaging machine according to the present invention is as follows:

(a) positioning an opening of a packaging bag that is stuffed with a food product on an automatic bag feeding structure provided on a support structure;

(b) the automatic bag feeding structure driving the opening of the packaging bag into an evacuating structure;

(c) a driving structure provided on the support structure driving a first vacuum compartment of the evacuating structure to close on a second vacuum compartment and also driving a heat-sealing structure 3 to press against the packaging bag;

(d) the evacuating structure carrying out an evacuating operation in the packaging bag until a predetermined level of vacuum is achieved or a predetermined time is reached;

(e) the heat-sealing structure carrying out a heat-sealing operation on the packaging bag until a second predetermined time is reached;

(f) the driving structure driving the heat-sealing structure away from the packaging bag;

(f1) carrying out an operation of pressure releasing in the evacuating structure so as to make a pressure inside the evacuating structure close to an external air pressure;

(g) the driving structure driving the evacuating structure to open;

(h) the automatic bag feeding structure moving out the packaging bag.

It is known from the above steps, firstly, as shown in FIGS. 2, 5, and 6, a user places a packaging bag 6 that is stuffed with a food product between the driving members 21 of the automatic bag feeding structure 2, and in this embodiment, rollers are taken as an example of the driving members 21. And, then, the inspection module 25 detects the packaging bag 6 and at this moment, the first electric machine 51 drives the first gears 22 to rotate, and the second gears 23 are also driven by the first gears 22 to rotate, so that each of the driving members 21 is caused to rotate to drive the packaging bag 6 into the vacuum packaging machine 1 and to move and set the opening of the packaging bag 6 between the first vacuum compartment 41 and the second vacuum compartment 42.

When the automatic bag feeding structure 2 is driving the packaging bag 6 to move, the heat-sealing presser bar 31 is set in an open condition by means of the first abutting section 312 in combination with the spring force that the first elastic element 113 applies thereto, and the first vacuum compartment 41 is set in an open condition by means of the second abutting section 412 in combination with the spring force that the second elastic element 114 applies thereto, so as not to interfere with the movement of the packaging bag 6.

However, after the opening of the packaging bag 6 moves into the evacuating structure 4, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 7-10, the driving structure 5 is activated to take an action, and the action is such that the first electric machine 5 drives the driver gear 54 to rotate so that the driver device 53 is caused, by means of the driver gear 54, to move on the driver mounting plate 2 in a direction from the first abutting section 312 toward the second abutting section 412. When the second abutting section 412 is pushed and moves downward in the second through opening 112, the first vacuum compartment 41 starts to rotate about an axis defined by the second pivoting section 411 so as to close onto the second vacuum compartment 42, in order to close the opening of the packaging bag 6. When the first abutting section 312 is pushed and moves downward, the heat-sealing presser bar 31 rotates about an axis defined by the first pivoting section 311 so as to press against the packaging bag 6. In this embodiment, when the driver device 53 pushes the second abutting section 412 to a predetermined position, the detector section 531 of the driver device 53 is set in alignment with or corresponding, in position, to the sensing element 55 so as to signal the first electric machine 51 to stop rotation as the predetermined position has been reached, and the first vacuum compartment 41 and the second vacuum compartment 42 are allowed to approach and get close to each other for contacting engagement and an operation of evacuation is activated. The evacuating structure 4 of this embodiment is operable in combination with an evacuation motor 43 to carry out the evacuating operation. After the evacuating structure 4 carries out the evacuating operation to achieve a predetermined level of vacuum or to reach a predetermined time, the driver device 53 moves to further push forward for moving the first abutting section 312 to have the heat-sealing presser bar 31 pressing tightly against the packaging bag 6 for performance of a heat-sealing operation. (in this embodiment, the sensing element 55 is an infrared sensing element, while the detector section 531 is a notch corresponding to the infrared sensing, but they are not limited thereto.)

When the heat-sealing operation is carried out to reach a second predetermined time, the heat-sealing operation is completed. At this moment, the evacuating structure 4 is in a vacuum condition, and thus, an operation of pressure releasing is necessary (such as introducing gas into the first vacuum compartment 41 and the second vacuum compartment 42) to allow the pressure inside the evacuating structure 4 to be equal to the external air pressure, and then the first vacuum compartment 41 and the second vacuum compartment 42 are allowed to separate from each other.

Afterwards, the first electric machine 51 controls the driver device 53 to move in an opposite direction and the first abutting section 312 and the second abutting section 412 are not pushed by the driver device 53 and are respectively pushed by the first elastic element 113 and the second elastic element 114 to thereby have the heat-sealing presser bar 31 and the first vacuum compartment 41 away from the packaging bag 6, and then, the automatic bag feeding structure 2 moves the packaging bag 6 out of the vacuum packaging machine 1.

As such, through the collaborative operative combination of the automatic bag feeding structure 2, the evacuating structure 4, the heat-sealing structure 3, and the driving structure 5, operations of bag feeding, evacuating, opening sealing, and bag retracting can be carried out automatically and no manual intervention is necessary for the entire process, so that the operation efficiency is greatly enhanced. Further, the automatic bag feeding structure 2, the evacuating structure 4, the heat-sealing structure 3, and the driving structure 5 are all arranged internally so that incidences of burning a human body due to unexpected contact with such structures can be prevented and operation safety can be significantly enhanced.

Further, reference is made to illustrations provided in FIGS. 11 and 12, and these drawings clearly show that the embodiment is generally similar to the embodiment described above; however, in this embodiment, a driving structure 5 a is provided as a plurality of fluid-driving elements, of which an example taken in this embodiment is a pneumatic pump, so that the pneumatic pump is operable for driving operations of an evacuating structure 4 a and a heat-sealing structure 3 a.

When a pneumatic pressure is introduced into the driving structure 5 a, the evacuating structure 4 a and the heat-sealing structure 3 a are driven to separate from each other, and when a packaging bag is set at a predetermined position, the driving structure 5 a is caused to operate oppositely so as to have the evacuating structure 4 a and the heat-sealing structure 3 a to abut, in collaboration with each other, onto the packaging bag to allow operations of evacuation and heat sealing to be subsequently carried out. After the packaging bag has completed with the evacuating and heat-sealing operations, the driving structure 5 a is activated to separate the evacuating structure 4 a and the heat-sealing structure 3 a, and then the packaging bag can be removed. This illustrates that no specific constraint is imposed to the way of driving that the driving structure 5 a may adopt. 

I claim:
 1. A vacuum packaging machine, the vacuum packaging generally comprising: a support structure; an automatic bag feeding structure, the automatic bag feeding structure being mounted on the support structure for driving a packaging bag into the vacuum packaging machine; an evacuating structure, the evacuating structure being mounted on the support structure, the evacuating structure comprising a first vacuum compartment that is movably connected to the support structure and a second vacuum compartment that is mounted on the support structure and arranged beside the first vacuum compartment; a heat-sealing structure, the heat-sealing structure being movably connected to the support structure and arranged between the automatic bag feeding structure and the evacuating structure; and a driving structure, the driving structure being mounted on the support structure, the driving structure being operable for controlling a movement of the heat-sealing structure and an opening and closing operation of the evacuating structure.
 2. The vacuum packaging machine according to claim 1, wherein the driving structure comprises at least a first electric machine mounted on the support structure, at least a driver mounting plate mounted on the support structure, at least a driver device movably mounted on the driver mounting plate, and at least a driver gear mounted on the support structure and connected to the first electric machine.
 3. The vacuum packaging machine according to claim 2, wherein the driving structure further comprises at least a sensing element 55 mounted on the driver mounting plate, a detector section being arranged on the driver device.
 4. The vacuum packaging machine according to claim 1, wherein the automatic bag feeding structure comprises a plurality of driving members rotatably mounted on the support structure, at least a first gear mounted on the support structure and connected to the driving members, at least a second gear mounted on the support structure and connected to the driving members, and at least a second electric machine 24 mounted on the support structure and connected to drive the first gear or the second gear to rotate, the first gear and the second gear being in mating engagement with each other.
 5. The vacuum packaging machine according to claim 1, wherein an inspection module is mounted on the support structure.
 6. The vacuum packaging machine according to claim 1, wherein the heat-sealing structure comprises one of a heating filament assembly and a positive temperature coefficient (PTC) assembly.
 7. The vacuum packaging machine according to claim 6, wherein the heating filament assembly comprises a heat-sealing presser bar movably mounted on the support structure and a heating filament arranged on a bottom of the heat-sealing presser bar, the base support structure being provided with at least a first through opening and at least a first elastic element, the heat-sealing presser bar comprising at least a first pivoting section rotatably coupled to the support structure and at least a first abutting section movably receivable in the first through opening, the first elastic element having two ends respectively supported on the support structure and the first abutting section.
 8. The vacuum packaging machine according to claim 1, wherein the base support structure is provided with at least a second through opening and at least a second elastic element, the first vacuum compartment comprising a second pivoting section and a second abutting section, the first vacuum compartment being rotatably mounted on the support structure by the second pivoting section, the second abutting section being movably receivable in the second through opening, the second elastic element having two ends respectively supported on the support structure and the second abutting section.
 9. The vacuum packaging machine according to claim 1, wherein the driving structure comprises a plurality of fluid-driving elements.
 10. A packaging method of a vacuum packaging machine, comprising: (a) positioning an opening of a packaging bag that is stuffed with a food product on an automatic bag feeding structure provided on a support structure; (b) the automatic bag feeding structure driving the opening of the packaging bag into an evacuating structure; (c) a driving structure provided on the support structure driving a first vacuum compartment of the evacuating structure to close on a second vacuum compartment and also driving a heat-sealing structure to press against the packaging bag; (d) the evacuating structure carrying out an evacuating operation in the packaging bag until a predetermined level of vacuum is achieved or a predetermined time is reached; (e) the heat-sealing structure carrying out a heat-sealing operation on the packaging bag until a second predetermined time is reached; (f) the driving structure driving the heat-sealing structure away from the packaging bag; (g) the driving structure driving the evacuating structure to open; and (h) the automatic bag feeding structure moving out the packaging bag.
 11. The packaging method of the vacuum packaging machine according to claim 10, wherein in step (b), an inspection module of the vacuum packaging machine is operable to inspect a location of the packaging bag.
 12. The packaging method of the vacuum packaging machine according to claim 10, wherein in step (c), the driving structure controls the evacuating structure to close and the heat-sealing structure to press against the packaging bag in a sequential manner.
 13. The packaging method of the vacuum packaging machine according to claim 10, wherein after step (f), a step (f1) is performed to carry out an operation of pressure releasing in the evacuating structure so as to make a pressure inside the evacuating structure close to an external air pressure. 